IN YOUR OPINION

Letters to the Editor for Jan. 22, 2014

Published: Wednesday, January 22, 2014 at 8:50 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 22, 2014 at 8:50 p.m.

I offer a solution to the raging controversies about the proposed Yankees baseball stadium and the downtown development.

Why not use Jorge Gutman’s (remember him) — million-dollar “sand lot” in lieu of a $60 million baseball stadium?

Use it: Will they come?

E. “Manny” Abraben

Ocala

Baseball logic

Aristotle said that if A is equal to B, and B is equal to C, then A is equal to C. So let’s take a little liberty with this syllogism and apply it to our local baseball dust-up.

If lots of Class A ballplayers — that’s what they are selling — are recent high school grads, and if lots of college ballplayers are recent high school grads, then Class A baseball has lots of things in common with college baseball. OK, that’s a stretch, but stay with me.

Mid-Florida Conference games are played by the College of Central Florida here in our city, tax free. Go up the road a few miles and you’ll find SEC baseball played with no extra tax burden.

Frankly, I’d rather pay $8 for a reserved chair-back seat — $4 for general admission — in McKethan Stadium in Gainesville and watch Florida play Alabama, or drive over to the CF campus and support our local college baseball team than pay for tickets and taxes to sit in a near-empty white elephant and watch the Ocala Suckerfish play the Jupiter Hammerheads.

Hank Davis

Ocala

Deep pockets

From NYTimes.com comes this headline: “Yankees sign Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka for 7 years, $155 million.”

If they can pay an employee $155 million, they can build and pay for their own stadium. Heck, they can probably also pay for the road and utilities, too!

Darlene Stuart Goddard

Ocala

Tobacco and meat

Last Friday, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. surgeon general’s first report on health hazards of cigarette smoking, his office released a report linking smoking to several new chronic diseases. These include diabetes, erectile dysfunction, cancer of the colon and liver, and stroke, in additional to the well-known links to lung and oral cancer, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

The parallels between cigarette smoking and meat consumption are uncanny:

The chronic diseases linked to both activities and costs of associated medical care and lost productivity are very similar.

The first government reports warning consumers about health hazards of cigarette smoking and meat consumption were issued in 1964 by the surgeon general and in 1977 by Senate Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, respectively.

The first warning labels on cigarette and meat packaging were required in 1966 and 1994, respectively.

Both activities are discouraged by health advocates and both are declining.

But there is one important difference: The meat industry impacts more state economies with a stronger Congressional clout than the tobacco industry. A surgeon general’s report on the hazards of meat consumption is most unlikely.

Our health remains our personal responsibility.

Peter Sullivan

Ocala

Guns kill people

Well, following the news on a daily basis, it’s nearly impossible to read the paper and not read about killings by someone using a gun. Now, it’s purported that killings with guns are by mentally unbalanced individuals. I think that’s a myth put forward by the National Rifle Association.

The Constitution was written by men who had come to this country to acquire religious freedom, but they rushed to judgment as to what they needed in the way of a written Bill of Freedom — my term not theirs.

Today the Constitution is flaunted in many ways, two of which are the right to own guns and the right to free speech.

If the Constitution is so great, why are so many innocent people — teachers, children, school bus drivers, theater workers and parents — being killed with guns?

How about free speech? If someone should criticize another person, the attorneys sue that person for criticizing another.

So, the Constitution is one, outdated, and, two, manipulated to serve this or that group.

Remember folks, if a person points a finger at you, it can’t kill you. But if they have a gun and point it at you, they can kill you. If you criticized someone for a wrongdoing, the accused could sue you for speaking up. There goes free speech.

In short, the Constitution is being manipulated by the NRA, Supreme Court, lawyers, Congress and a number of unsavory individuals who know how to manipulate the law.

It’s always said we are a country of laws, and that’s what makes us different. We are different. We have more gun violence than any other.

Having been in the service, I as well as any veteran know what guns are for — killing and killing only. I rest my case.

Bill Ford

Ocala

Taxing idea

It’s tax season again, when many people complain about giving back to the government. But a very large portion of the population also think life would be enhanced if only tax rates were even higher. There is a solution.

If you like high taxes, you can now pay higher taxes — and, with no annoying congressional hearings, no time-consuming sit-ins, no long, self-righteous speeches and no pesky debates. Simply multiple your tax obligation by 10, 20, 50 or even 100 percent, all in the privacy of your own home.

But wait, include your state tax obligation — sorry Florida — and experience a second feel-good bonus.

Union members can choose to double their dues and achieve twice the workplace promises.

All of society’s problems will be solved, quietly and individually, without bothering your fellow citizens.

Alas, there is always a catch! Never mind.

Paul Wilkes

Ocala

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